Transcripts: Politics Seeped Into Base Closings Talks

August 30, 1989|By N.Y. Times News Service

WASHINGTON — When politicians have trouble dealing with tough issues, they frequently turn to commissions to bail them out.

Such was the case with the closing of military bases, an unpalatable task that Congress consigned to a special panel to insulate the process from political influences. That was the intent, at any rate.

A transcript of the commission's closed-door sessions, however, provides a revealing glimpse into the political seepage that occurred in the group's deliberations from June through December of 1988, when its recommendations - including that Fort Monroe be spared - were made public. And it portrays members who were immensely dissatisfied with their work.

Several were so concerned about how the public would judge them that they wanted the transcript of the sessions destroyed after their recommendations were made public late last year.

"We should shred it, and then ask if we did the right thing," one member advised.

In the end, the transcript was saved and recently became available, but the names of the commissioners were mostly blotted out.

Led by former Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, D-Conn., and former Rep. Jack Edwards, R-Ala., the 12-member panel included two former Defense Department officials, three retired military officers and several senior business executives.

From the beginning, Ribicoff made clear that politics would intrude into the process.

"We are expected to operate in an independent manner, but that in no way implies that we operate in a vacuum," he said in a portion of the transcript.

Several commissioners complained the military services were playing politics, with the Air Force and the Army recommending bases they would have closed anyway, and the Navy and Marine Corps resisting closing anything.